First babies of the season!

[SherryB]

I decided last month to push the date for when it gets cool enough here to start breeding again and bred 2 of my does. One did not take. But the other doe kindled yesterday and I am so proud of this little momma! This is her second litter and she has been a perfect momma both times...great nest building, has her babies in the nest, and wonderful, consistent sized litters both times! She had 7 with her first litter, no deaths. And has had 8 with her second litter with one dead. Both times her babies are very even in size too. I took a pic earlier today when I did a recount (which she is also very tolerant of me doing) and I will get it posted later.

But wouldn't you know...two days after I bred them it turned dreadfully hot again...she had her first litter in the heat at the end of the breeding season earlier this year. So, she has to put up with the heat again this time too! She gets a frozen water bottle most all day now.

[TMTex]

Congrats on the new kits! Eight is a great number! Looking forward to pics.

Two of my does didn't take last month (probably due to the heat), but I have three expecting this weekend. Fingers crossed.

[redneckswife]

Congrats Sherry!
I did the same thing and pushed my breeding dates forward because it had cooled at the time.
Now it's back in the 90's and all of the does kindled last week and are having to deal with the heat.
I think next year I'm gonna try harder to resist the urge to breed until Sept.

Now I'm constantly checking does during the day for signs of heat stress

[ChocolateMouse]

Congrats Sherry! My first litters of the season are due very soon as well.

I don't get it. I had upper 80's and 90's all summer long, and had litters all summer long. The rabbits are in the shade and I had frozen bottles changed out 2X's a day for them and minimal bedding... No heat stress really. They, like all the animals, sat in the coolest part of their cage during 12-3PM against their bottles but the rest of the day were active and were always willing to leap to the door for treats. I wonder if my rabbits are just heat hardy?

[redneckswife]

Humidity doesn't help . But the air circulation sure does!
Litters here too, I think rabbits are hardier than people think.
I've had them in Arizona & California dry heat, Kansas & Colorado cold winters,Texas & Arkansas humidity(with heat too) and mine have always been raised outside and I haven't really found a problem.

Chocolate Mouse, I did tote some nestboxes in, but I also tried leaving some in with the does(to see if they could take the heat).
Both methods worked for me.And I now know that my kits(even newborns) can handle heat of 96 degrees.It's nice to try out others ideas sometimes and test the theories.

[froebeli]

Congrats on the new litters! I have two more litters due next week.

Trying to figure out breed back schedules now since I have to be away from home for two weeks in Jan. Hate to leave DH with too many to look after.

[redneckswife]

Frobeli, I compeletly understand...the first thing now we think of when going out of town is "Whose's gonna look after the buns?" LOL

[SherryB]

Here is a pic of this doe's babies that I took this morning. They are fat as little pigs! The photo is distorted though as that one in the front looks huge. They are all very nearly the same size.